Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood

The first generation of women to have tasted social, political, and economic empowerment-some thirty-seven million strong-has reached a new frontier that is unexpected and unexplored. Nearing their fifties and entering their sixties, they have fulfilled all the prescribed roles-daughter, wife, mother, employee; yet with longer life expectancy and better health they do not intend to retire from the world. They want to experience more. Inventing the Rest of Our Lives is an evocative and eye- opening road map across this uncharted terrain. Suzanne Braun Levine, the first editor of Ms. magazine and a long-time journalist, has been reporting on the lives of women like herself throughout their tumultuous first adulthood. Here she draws on personal stories, cutting-edge science, up-to-date trend analysis, and her own struggles to show that Second Adulthood women are simply not the same people they were, only older; they are changing-both inside and out. The latest research she has uncovered proves it: Certain areas of their brains are undergoing a growth spurt very similar to that in adolescence, their sexual and emotional rhythms are readjusting along with their hormones, and their priorities are shifting dramatically. From work to love, self-discovery to civic duty, health to economics, Inventing the Rest of Our Lives examines every aspect of their lives, offers solutions, and shares stories-sometimes touching, sometimes joyous-of women who hav